


Rammahgon

by pythia



Series: The Best Teacher [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fake Daoism, Introspection, Post-Crait, mentions of Knights of the Old Republic, the author did way too much research for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 13:27:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17245067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pythia/pseuds/pythia
Summary: Rey didn’t know how to begin to be a Jedi, repair a lightsaber, or how to stop the First Order.





	Rammahgon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bittersnake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittersnake/gifts).



> I pulled a lot from the Star Wars MMO games, built a copy of what I think Rey's lightsaber will be like out of paper towel rolls and did a lot of unnecessary, but fun research for this story. Happy Holidays my friend. It was a pleasure to write this for you. 
> 
> Thank you to Zabeta for the beta read and reassurances. You are an angel. Thank you!

Leia Organa was rarely wrong. After Crait, she told Rey that they had everything they needed to continue their fight against the First Order. They had a broken lightsaber, Han’s battered ship, and less than a hundred people. 

Rey didn’t know how to begin to be a Jedi, repair a lightsaber, or how to stop the First Order.

After fleeing Ach-to, Rey found the Jedi texts from Luke’s tree library stashed inside a drawer on the Millennium Falcon. Chewie hadn’t gone near the tree, so she hadn’t asked him about the books. It seemed that someone, the Force perhaps, wanted her to have them. There were about seven in total, written in languages both familiar and unfamiliar to her. The only two written in an archaic form of Basic were the Aionomica and the Rammahgon. The latter seemed more helpful as it contained actual directions on how to assemble a lightsaber. The Aionomica was a collection of inscrutable poetry to assist in meditation exercises.

For days after the Battle of Crait, while Leia and everyone around her scrambled to find allies, Rey pored over the Rammahgon’s diagrams and step by step directions on how to assemble her own lightsaber. 

It was simple enough. The metal components could be easily fashioned out of her old quarterstaff. 

The problem was the Kyber crystal, and the final design. 

Even though she’d held her own with the lightsaber against Snoke’s guards, the design of a conventional lightsaber didn’t really feel right in her hands. It felt like a tool, rather than a natural extension of herself. 

The first step in assembling a lightsaber was to hold her kyber crystals in her hand to activate them. It didn’t say that she couldn’t use the crystals from the broken lightsaber, but it still felt _wrong_. Leia had told Rey repeatedly that it was okay to use it in constructing her own lightsaber.

Leia sought out Rey in the galley days earlier where she lay on the floor trying to fix the table to play dejarik without the wires shorting out. She pulled Rey to her feet and bade her to sit next to her. “Rey, you need a lightsaber. I know that you’re putting off building one because you’re reluctant to use what we have… but it is okay. I know that it’s what Luke and Anakin would want. It found you, it chose you.”

Her eyes were earnest and kind, the sort of eyes that Rey used to imagine her mother having. Throat tight and dry, Rey looked down at her hands. At some point, Leia had taken both of Rey’s hands in hers. Leia’s hands were elegant, soft and strong. Her rings glittered in the low light of the galley and she was reminded of the stars in the dark skies above Jakku.

“Thank you Leia. I will use them. I will try to do right by your family’s name and honor them,” Rey murmured, looking up to find Leia’s eyes bright with tears.

“You would be the first person to do that. We’re messy people, Rey, no matter what the stories say. You’re a good person, and I am proud of you. Build your lightsaber, stop putting it off. I don’t know when we’ll have time like this again. We’ll be settling at our new base soon.” 

With a kiss to Rey’s forehead, Leia left the galley and took all of Rey’s excuses with her.

__________________________

In the old days, younglings would journey to a world rich with kyber crystals and explore until their crystal found them. On the journey home, a Padawan or young Master would instruct the group on the building of their lightsabers. There would be boxes of components at hand for them to use. Each lightsaber was composed of seven basic components: the Kyber crystal, the hilt, modulation circuits, energy gate, blade emitter shroud, emitter matrix, and activator.

Each youngling would construct their blade with the Force. The meditative state achieved during the process would ensure that the user and blade were entirely in sync with each other. 

Rey did not have such luxuries, only a broken lightsaber, scrap metal and whatever tools she was able to scrounge up. It was not particularly difficult to assemble physically. She just needed to make sure that she had all of the components ready for the final assembly, which would be done using only the Force. Rey was working on the emitter shroud, modifying it so she could change the length of her blade on the fly. It wasn’t something that she’d read about in any of the histories, but it seemed like it might be useful.

While reading the Rammahgon, Rey often ended up researching people and things that were not exactly related to the construction of her lightsaber. It was more about her wanting to put off creating her own blade, rather than wanting to learn more about Force users of the past. One of the most intriguing stories that she’d found was about Senya Tirall, a knight of Zakuul  who used a lightsaber pike in combat. 

Excited, Rey went to the Holonet and downloaded a number of legends about the warrior, excited to learn more about her as she worked. She hadn’t had much privacy to listen to the stories or watch the holos until most people had settled into their bunks to sleep during the day. They’d settled into a new secret base on a desert moon in the Outer Rim, but most people couldn’t handle the heat of the twin suns beating down on the planet during the day. The heat and sand were a comfort to Rey, and it made finally sitting down to finish her lightsaber components easier. It was like cleaning up a salvage - she wasn’t doing anything special or important. Building a lightsaber held so much meaning and felt so daunting to Rey, even with the Rammahgon guiding her. If she thought of it like a salvage, something she’d done so many times before, Rey could put her fear aside and simply work.

The narrator had a smooth Coruscanti accent that reminded Rey of a few techs who’d come from the Core Worlds to join Leia’s fight against the First Order.

She was using a tiny soldering iron when Seyna’s story took a dramatic and unexpected turn. Senya had been rising through the ranks as a Knight of Zakuul, and earned a position personally guarding the Emperor Valkorion. “The emperor noticed the powerful, beautiful knight and began to pursue her,” the narrator intoned as if it were totally normal for a knight and emperor to have a forbidden romance. “Their affair was fraught, as Senya began to realize that her lover, Valkorion was a powerful Sith lord.”

Rey jerked, as if the narrator had shouted loudly. The soldering iron tumbled out of her hands, she fumbled for it, and managed to burn the top of her hand in the process. Staring at the burn, Rey couldn’t help but think about Kylo’s scar. The one that she’d given him weeks before on Starkiller base. Everytime he looked in the mirror, he’d see that scar.

Did he think of her too? It was hard not to think of the new Supreme Leader, his presence was everywhere. They had not seen each other since Crait. Her audio file continued to play, explaining the long affair between Senya Tirall and Emperor Valkorion. They had three children together.

The thought of having children, the process of having children, made Rey’s skin prickle and a shiver run down her spine. It was the hottest time of day, and she felt unexpectedly cold at the very thought.

“Why are you modifying an emitter shroud like that? What’s the purpose of being able to adjust it?”   

A heavy weight draped itself around Rey’s shoulders, more oppressive than the smothering heat of the afternoon suns. She knew that voice, it made her feel both comforted and utterly shattered. It wasn’t the thought of children that made her skin prickle and body shiver. It was the force, playing tricks again. 

“Ben, why are you here?” Rey didn’t turn around, she simply picked up her soldering iron and resumed work on the emitter shroud. She didn’t even move to shut off her audio, perhaps that would discourage Ben from speaking to her.

“Are you listening to stories about Senya Tirall?” Ben paused, and laughed softly. “Ah. You are. You’ve gotten to the part where she has children with the Emperor - not realizing he was a Sith.” Rey growled and slapped her audio player to begin the next program she’d found. The narrator introduced the story of Grandmaster Satele Shan, who famously wielded a double-bladed lightsaber and fought at the Battle of Alderaan against the Sith Empire.

“Satele Shan also had a lover who tread on the dark side,” he mused, “Is there a theme here Rey? Something that you are trying to understand?”

“You’re a kriffing idiot. They both use weapons similar to my staff, they used the force,” Rey huffed, trying to conceal her embarrassed fury. Of course Ben would know about these women, two of the greatest warriors and force users in history. She fiddled with the switch, checking the connections, and set it aside, satisfied that it was in working order.

“Look at me Rey. _Please_ ,” there was a dark edge to Ben’s voice, making his request more of a command.

“No Ben. You made your choice. I’m making mine,” Rey pulled the modulation circuits she’d made from the remains of the Skywalker lightsaber and some spare circuits in a box of parts in the hold of the Millennium Falcon. Sighing, Rey turned on her plasma torch and felt its heat press against her skin, making the bright desert afternoon even more unbearable.

“No, it looks like you’re… You’re making a lightsaber.” His voice was no longer commanding, but filled with wonder. “Yes. You’re making a lightsaber. That’s why you’re listening to stories about women who had weapons like your staff. Are you making a saber staff?”

Rey wanted to look up to see if the excitement and wonder in Ben’s voice was genuine. They were both so alone, and she knew that he had to have built his lightsaber without the guidance of the Rammahgon

“I don’t know what it will be. I’m just making sure that my components are ready. I’ve had to improvise a good bit,” she kept her voice casual, raising it over the hissing sounds of the plasma torch. 

“Are you going to try and kill me?”

“Maybe I’m taking your advice and letting the past die. Moving forward to something new. You should go. I don’t want to do this with you anymore.” By some miracle, Rey didn’t burn herself as she shut off the torch to check that the casing of her modulation circuits hadn’t melted. It was an untested alloy and Rey prayed that it would hold up until she found something more stable. Tears threatened to fill her eyes, a threat that would become a reality if she looked at Ben. His betrayal still stung.

“The Millennium Falcon is now my ship. Will you keep trying to shoot me out of the sky?” Stories of Supreme Leader Ren’s screaming commands at the Battle of Crait had made their way to the Rebellion.

“I didn’t know you were on there.”

“Now you do.” Rey’s skin prickled and tightened again, making her look up to find the room empty and dark, but for the island of light at the workbench. It was like Ben had never been there, his breath tickling her cheek as he leaned over to watch her work. She sighed and cracked her neck before bending down to resume work on the modulation circuits. She had her own work to do, and so apparently did Ben. Wherever in the galaxy he might be.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Twitter: [@PythiaTweets](http://www.twitter.com/pythiatweets) and [ Pythia](https://www.pillowfort.io/Pythia) on Pillowfort. 
> 
> Please do not repost any of my works. If you'd like them posted on another site, just ask.


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